How Much Do Premier League Referees Get Paid?

As of the 2025/26 season, Premier League referees earn a base salary of around £70,000 per year, plus a match fee of approximately £1,500 per game officiated.

A referee who takes charge of 30 matches in a season, a reasonable workload for a Select Group 1 official, would earn roughly £115,000 in total. The top officials, who handle the most high-profile fixtures including European matches, can earn more.

Figures are not published officially by the Premier League or PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited), so these are based on reported industry estimates.

Premier League referees are employed full-time by PGMOL, the body that governs match officials across the professional game in England. This changed in 2001, when referees moved from a semi-professional model to full-time contracts.

Pay breaks down into three components:

• Retainer/base salary: paid annually regardless of matches officiated
• Match fees: paid per game, with higher rates for more prestigious fixtures
• Expenses: travel, accommodation and preparation costs covered separately

Assistant referees (linesmen) earn less. The base salary for a Select Group 1 assistant is estimated at around £50,000–£60,000, with match fees of approximately £800–£1,000 per game.

The fourth official and VAR officials also receive match fees, though the rates for VAR roles have not been widely reported.

The Premier League pays the highest referee salaries in English football by some distance. Championship referees are also full-time PGMOL employees but earn a fair bit less.

Internationally, top referees in La Liga and the Bundesliga earn broadly comparable amounts, and Serie A officials reportedly sit in a similar range. The highest-paid referees in the world are those who officiate Champions League and World Cup finals, where UEFA and FIFA add sizeable match bonuses.

Reaching the Premier League as a referee takes years. The typical route runs through grassroots football into the National League system, then the EFL, and eventually into the Select Group, the pool of officials who referee Premier League matches.

PGMOL manages two tiers of Select Group officials. Select Group 1 (SG1) referees take charge of Premier League matches. Select Group 2 (SG2) officials mainly cover the Championship and serve as a development pool for SG1 promotion.

The process from taking a refereeing course to reaching the Premier League takes most officials 15–20 years. There are currently around 20 SG1 referees in England.

Yes. Since VAR was introduced in the Premier League in 2019/20, officials working in the VAR hub at Stockley Park receive match fees for those duties. The exact fee structure for VAR roles has not been confirmed publicly, but PGMOL officials have indicated it falls within the same pay framework as on-field officiating.

The gap between referee earnings and player salaries in the Premier League is wide. The average Premier League player earns around £3.5 million per year. A top referee earns roughly 3–4% of that.

Whether that gap should be smaller is a separate debate. The point worth making is that Premier League refereeing is now a well-paid full-time profession, which it wasn't before 2001, when officials held day jobs alongside their refereeing.